Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Teaching Curve
by Navek
Summary: AU. Robert Marti is a Mathematics professor with a mission; to uncover all the secrets of Duel Academy. He'll have to contend with outlandish students, his fellow teachers, and all manner of strange phenomena. Will he uncover the truth? And will his love for dueling be reignited? Read on to find out!
1. Chapter 1: Entrance Exam

_**Domino City…**_

Inside the Duel Academy-owned arena, several entrance exam duels were taking place. While the previously-given written exam served as a test of the applicants' educational merits, the entrance duels would determine their skills and ingenuity when it came to Duel Monsters. The students would duel a teacher who served as a proctor.

One of these proctors was a man in his mid-twenties with green eyes and long black hair tied in a ponytail. He was of Spanish descent with stubble on his chin, clad in the standard purple proctor outfit. And as he waited for the examinee to arrive on the duel field, only one thought occupied his mind.

'Why are these things so freakin' hot?!' He thought as he pulled his shirt forward, letting some air in. 'How do those Obelisk freshmen handle this?'

Soon enough, the examinee arrived. He was half-caucasian, half-Japanese with black eyes and slicked-back black hair that flushed slightly to the left. His outfit consisted of a white & silver school jacket and pants, no doubt from his middle school.

"You must be Bastion Misawa," the proctor said as he shook the teen's hand. "The name's Robert Marti, and I'll be your proctor. The staff's been buzzin' about your written test scores. Good job, man."

"Why thank you," Bastion replied, revealing his posh British accent. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Marti. And let me assure you, I plan on acing his duel as well."

The proctor gave a friendly smirk. "We'll see about that."

The two moved towards separate ends of the duel field before both of them pulled out curved computer pads from their jackets, Bastion's being grey and the proctor's being emerald. They then placed the pads on their left arms and attached deck slots with sleeved cards onto it. Both pad screens shined as five monster slots shot out from them and unfolded.

"_D-Pad, Set!" _Both duelists proclaimed before placing Duel Gazers over their right eyes, the proctor's was black with a green lens and Bastion's was grey with a blue lens.

"_D-Gazer, Set!" _The two proclaimed as their gazers glowed. In a matter of seconds, a stream of data flowed out from the D-Pads, coating the area around them in Augmented Reality Data.

_AR Vision; Link Complete. _

The decks were automatically shuffled by the deck slots and the two drew opening five cards.

"_Let's Duel!"_

**Robert: 8000**

**Bastion: 8000**

"It's custom for the examinee to go first," Robert explained. "So show me what you got, Misawa."

"With pleasure," Bastion replied as he drew his first card. "I'll set a monster and three cards face-down." As he placed the cards on and inside his pad, Bastion studied his proctor's face for a reaction. "That's it for now."

'Playing it safe to start, eh?' Robert thought as he drew. 'Not a bad strategy, but you can't stay behind your walls forever.'

"I activate the spell card, _Reinforcement of the Army, _which lets me add a level 4 or lower Warrior type monster from my deck to my hand."

With a tap on the D-Pad, a single sleeved black card slid out from the proctor's deck and he added it to his hand. "And I'm gonna summon him right away. Come on out, _Marauding Captain!"_

A scarred blond warrior clad in steel blue armor appeared on the front of the proctor, swinging his two swords. **(LV. 3/ATK: 1200)**

"And when _Marauding Captain_ is normal summoned, I get to summon a Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from my hand. So here's another captain!"

An identical copy of the warrior appeared next to him. **(LV. 3/ATK: 1200)**

"So you're starting off with a monster lock," Bastion stated, referring to Marauding Captian's other effect.

"Hey, it should be easy for any duelist to overcome," Robert said before placing another card into the Spell/Trap slot on the D-Pad. "I cast _Twin Twisters, _discarding a card from my hand to destroy up to two of your spell or trap cards."

The proctor discarded a card from his hand as two twisters shot out from his field, destroying two of Bastion's set cards, _Magic Cylinder _and _Inferno Reckless Summon _respectively.

"Next, I equip one of my captains with _United We Stand, _boosting its ATK by 800 for each of my face-up monsters!"

A golden aura appeared around the Marauding Captain on Robert's right. **(ATK: 1200 - 2800)**

"I'll have my stronger captain attack your set monster!" The glowing warrior charged ahead. The set monster flipped face-up, revealing itself to be a green turtle with a UFO for a shell. **(LV. 4/DEF: 1200) **The swordsman roared as slashed the enemy monster as it disbursed into pixels.

"My _UFO Turtle's _effect now activates, letting me special summon a FIRE monster with 1500 or less ATK from my deck in attack mode," Bastion explained as he grabbed the selected card and slapped it on a monster zone. "Say hello to _Solar Flare Dragon!" _

A serpentine dragon made of fire and lava roared onto the field. **(LV. 4/ATK: 1500) **"And I'll chain this summoning with my set quick-play spell; a second _Inferno Reckless Summon. _When a monster with 1500 or less ATK is special summoned to my field while my opponent controls a monster, I can special summon as many copies of that monster from my deck, hand or graveyard in attack mode. And you get to do the same for one monster you control."

Two more copies of Solar Flare Dragon appeared on Bastion's field while a third Marauding Captain appeared on the proctor's field, increasing the UWS-equipped captain's ATK. **(ATK: 2800 - 3600)**

'So now we both got a monster lock in play,' Robert thought to himself. Both Marauding Captain and Solar Flare Dragon had similar effects where the opponent couldn't attack a monster of the same type. Having two or more monsters with similar effects meant that an opposing monster wouldn't be able to attack either monster. "I'll end my turn here."

Bastion simply hmphed as he drew his next card. "I'll simply set a face-down. And during my end phase, each of my Solar Flare Dragons inflicts 500 points of damage."

The three lava dragons roared before unleashing three streams of fire at the proctor. Despite knowing the oncoming fire was just AR, the proctor guarded himself with his arms out of sheer instinct.

**Robert: 8000 - 6500**

"Looks like first blood goes to you, kid," the proctor said as he drew. "But don't get too comfy with that monster lock. Because I'm tributing one of your Solar Flare Dragons to special summon _Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju _to your side of the field."

The central lava dragon disappeared into pixels as a large blue turtle monster appeared on Bastion's field. **(LV. 8/ATK: 2200)**

"I'll continue by summonin' _Command Knight!" _The ponytail-wearing duelist proclaimed as a blonde female knight with red armor, a shield and sword appeared next to the three Marauding Captains. **(LV. 4/ATK: 1200) **"And she boosts all of my warrior monsters with an extra 400 ATK."

**(LV. 4/ATK: 1200 - 1600) (LV. 3/ATK: 1200) x2 (LV. 3/ATK: 3600 - 4000)**

And another monster on the field boosted the _Marauding Captain_ equipped with United We Stand. **(LV. 3/ATK: 4000 - 4800)**

"Since you have a non-pyro monster, I can attack Gameciel with my boosted Captain," the proctor explained as the UWS-boosted Captain leaped at the large sea turtle, beheading the creature and turning it into pixels.

**Bastion: 8000 - 5400**

"I'll end it for now." Despite the massive damage, Bastion was unperturbed as he drew his next card. And when he saw it, he smirked.

"That was an impressive counter, wise proctor. But my winning board is about to be assembled," the British teen proclaimed. "First, I activate the continuous spell card, _Dark Room of Nightmare. _Now every time you take effect damage, you suffer an additional 300 damage. Next, I play _Terraforming, _letting me add a field spell card from my deck to my hand."

After adding the card to his hand, Bastion immediately slid it into his D-Pad. "And now I activate the field spell _Fusion Gate._" A green grid pattern appeared behind the black-haired duelist as he continued to explain. "This field spell allows me to fusion summon monsters by banishing materials from my hand and field. Or at least that would be the case if it wasn't for my trap card: _Chain Material!" _Bastion stated as his face-down card flipped up. "Now whenever I fusion summon this turn, I can use monsters from my deck as fusion materials. However, I can't attack this turn and the fusion monsters are destroyed during the end phase."

The black-haired teen then took out two monsters from his deck. "Time for my stratagem! I fuse _Cyber Valley _and _Volcanic Shell _from my deck!" Two worm-like monsters appeared above Bastion, one cybernetic and one organic with a large beak. The two monsters then turned into red and green lights and flew into the Fusion Gate behind Bastion, creating a multi-colored swirl of energy. "I Fusion Summon _Blaze Fenix, the Burning Bombardment Bird!"_

A creature of orange fire and dark armor emerged from the swirl, its fiery wings blazin' as it let out a roar. **(LV. 8/ATK: 2800)**

"Now, I use Blaze Fenix's effect; Once per turn, it can inflict 300 damage to my opponent at the cost of its attack for the turn. But since Chain Material already got rid of that, it's no great loss," Bastion explained as his monster pelted the proctor with fiery feathers, amplified by the Dark Room of Nightmare.

**Robert: 6500 - 5900**

"And my Fusion Gate isn't once per turn, so I'll fuse another set of Cyber Valley and Volcanic Shell to fusion summon another Blaze Fenix!"

Indeed, the process was repeated and another Blaze Fenix arrived on Bastion's field. **(LV. 8/ATK: 2800) **And like before, Bastion used the second Fenix's effect.

**Robert: 5900 - 5300**

But the black-haired brit wasn't done yet, and used his final pair of Cyber Valley and Volcanic Shell to fusion summon another Blaze Fenix **(LV. 8/ATK: 2800) **and used its effect.

**Robert: 5300 - 4800**

"I'll then set a card. And during my end phase, my Blaze Fenixs are destroyed and my Solar Flare Dragons deal you effect damage."

Just as Bastion said, the three fusion disintegrated while the Solar Flare Dragons unleashed their fire on the Proctor.

**Robert: 4800 - 3200**

"Impressive play, kid. But let's see if you can stick the landing," the black-haired man said as he drew his next card. "I activate the spell card, _Interrupted Kaiju Slumber!" _As soon as he played that card, the ground beneath the two duelists and their monsters began to shake.

"This card destroys as many monsters on the field as possible, and then I can special summon 1 'Kaiju' monster to each side of the field in attack mode. So I'll summon another Gameciel to your side of the field while _Dogoran, the Mad Flame Kaiju _is summoned to my side!"

The ground erupted from under both player's monsters, destroying them as the two Kaiju monsters appeared. On Bastion side was another Gameciel **(LV. 8/ATK: 2200) **while a massive flaming dinosaur-like monster with wings appeared on the proctor's field. **(LV. 8/ATK: 3000)**

Bastion, rather than be discouraged or become distraught, simply smirked at his proctor. "Impressive play, sir. But I'm afraid I'll have to end it here."

Robert raised an eyebrow before he looked at Bastion's D-Pad and then it clicked. "Your set card?"

"That's right! I activate my trap card, _Ring of Destruction!" _Bastion proclaimed as his trap flipped up. "Now, I can destroy your monsters with ATK equal to or less than your current life points. I'll take damage equal its original ATK, but you'll take it as well afterward."

A large ring with grenades on it appeared on Dogoran's neck. The creature struggled to get it off, only for the pins on the grenades to go off, blowing the creature to smithereens.

**Bastion: 5400 - 2400**

**Robert: 3200 - 200**

"And since you just suffered effect damage…"

"Dark Room of Nightmare deals me an extra 300." The proctor said with a smile, even as a red aura drained him of his last life points.

**Robert: 200 - 0**

**Bastion: WINNER!**

The Augmented Reality faded, returning the duel field to normal as the two duelists shook hands.

"You passed, kid. Welcome to Duel Academy."

"Thank you, sir," Bastion said with a humble tone. "It was a pleasure and honor to duel you today."

"Looks like we'll be seeing each other more often then."

"Pardon?"

"Well you see, some of us proctors are actually teachers at the school."

"Ah. And which teacher are you?"

"You're looking at Duel Academy's new Mathematics Professor. These kids need to know more than just addition and subtraction when you graduate." Robert said before turning and walking out of the duel arena. "I'll be lookin' forward to seeing you on campus, Bastion."

"Same here, Professor Marti." Bastion replied as he left as well.

Robert returned to the stands and watched the remaining entrance duels take place. And alongside Bastion, there was a promising batch of kids this year. A rich kid named Chazz completely overwhelmed his opponent with his ace fusion monster. A girl called Alexis played with calm, tactical precision as she used her ritual monsters to win her the game.

But there were also some less than stellar performances, with one kid named Syrus winning because of a lucky-timed Magic Cylinder.

Soon, the last exam duel for the day began between Professor Crowler and a kid named Jaden Yuki. And Robert only had one thought when he saw the kid.

'Why does his hair look like a Kuriboh?' The black-haired man thought.

"Never figured Crowler would duel an examinee." Robert turned and saw a red-haired woman with blue eyes taking a seat next to him. She was wearing a cute princess-style purple dress with a matching headband, white gloves, a black dance shoes.

"You really wore your dress to give an examination?" Robert asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course. I wasn't going to wear that stuffy ensemble," the woman replied with a smile. Robert pulled his coat, silently agreeing with her.

"Well, you got me there, Cecilia," the green-eyed man said before turning his attention to the duel between Crowler and Jaden. Robert honestly liked Crowler. Yes, he was over-the-top and petty sometimes, but he was an excellent teacher. "So why is Crowler even duelin' the kid?"

"Apparently, this Yuki kid mistook Crowler for a woman when he was signing in."

"Oh, shit," Robert said with a sweatdrop. If there was one thing that could set the blond professor off, it was calling him a woman. But as the duel began, it was clear and even though Crowler was using his Ancient Gear deck, although it appeared to be a weaker variant of his normal deck. Meanwhile, this Jaden kid used an Elemental Hero deck…but it seemed to be based on the normal Elemental Heroes.

And while Crowler managed to summon a copy of Ancient Gear Golem during his first turn, Jaden was able to hold on until he managed fusion summon a monster called Elemental Hero Flame Wingman. And in combination with the archetype-specific field spell Skyscraper, Jaden's Wingman was able to destroy Crowler's Golem.

But it was after that turn that Crowler suffered through a duelist's greatest fear; bricking their hand AKA drawing a bad hand. And with the professor unable to do anything, Jaden was able to win his duel.

And so, the entrance exams were over for the day, and everyone soon went home. In particular, Robert went back to his apartment. After changing into his sleepwear (a black t-shirt and sweatpants), Robert pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, it's me. In the next month, I can finally begin my investigation. Yes, I'll report anything I find back to you. Don't worry, I'll find your kids."

For the last six months, the staff of Duel Academy knew him was Robert Marti, a young Mathematics professor with a snarky disposition. But in reality, he was Gerard Reyes, an investigative journalist.

A year and a half ago, Gerard was approached by a group of concerned parents. According to them, all their kids had seemingly gone missing after attending Duel Academy. And since they couldn't get any information out of the Academy Staff, they decided to hire him to find their kids.

And this was a mission Gerard would complete no matter what. Even if he had to lie to everyone on that island. Even if he had to play a game he hated.

_To be continued…_

**Author's Note: Once more unto the breach. That breach being a universe where life or death matters are decided via a Children's Card Game. **

**While my last two forays into the YGO world have related to 5Ds, I think I figured out why those never went anywhere. 5Ds is a solid series (a few elements notwithstanding), so I ended up a bit limited in my writing as I tried to keep the story mostly the same. And with stories like the Fairy Mythos Series, I realized that I do better writing a series by creating my own story beats. **

**And no YGO series is in need of reworking than GX. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of stuff I like about GX, but you can't deny that a lot of the times, it felt like the writers didn't have any planning in mind. **

**Why GX and why now? Well, two things; Yung Warrior's fanfic **_**State of the Meta **_**(which you should all read) and Little Kuriboh's series where he watches each episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Aside from being really funny, it does highlight some of the flaws in that series. **

**This story is also gonna let me experiment with a different type of character; The O.C. Stand-in. That's right, Richard Marti AKA Gerard Reyes is not a total OC. GX viewers will probably recognize him as the reporter guy who appeared in Jaden and Bastion's Two-Part duel in Season 1. It'll be a different experience working with a character not that well-defined. **

**And just to clarify, Chazz and Alexis taking the entrance exams isn't a mistake, they will be first year students along with Bastion, Jaden, and Syrus in this AU.**

**Next Time: Welcome to Duel Academy.**

**See ya next time!**


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Duel Academy

**Author's Note 1: The following is a non-profit fanfiction.**

**Yu-Gi-Oh is owned by Konami, Shonen Jump, Konami Cross Media NY, Studio Gallop, and Kazuki Takahashi. **

**Any original characters and concepts are owned by Navek and xpegasus.**

_Chapter 2: Welcome to Duel Academy_

_The crowd cheered and roared as the tournament's final match came down to the wire. It was a fierce confrontation between two skilled and passionate young boys but only one could claim victory. In one corner was a young Gerard, and in the other was a blond-haired boy. While both had fought tooth and nail for the crown, it became clear to everyone that Gerard would walk home the victory. The blond boy had an empty hand and 2500 LP while Gerard had just summoned the monster that would clinch the win, Demise, King of Armageddon. _

"_I'll admit it, you're good," Gerard said. "But not good enough to beat me!" The black-haired boy smirked. "I activate Demise, King of Armageddon's effect; by sacrificing 2000 life points, Demise destroys all other cards on the field! Final Judgement!" _

_**Gerard: 4600 - 2600**_

_With a powerful swing from his axe, Demise, King of Armageddon vaporized all of his opponents Elemental Heroes on both of their remaining spell and trap cards._

"_Demise, attack him, directly," Gerard declared. Demise rushed forward and with a great swing, brought his axe down on the blond-haired boy, taking him down to 100 LP._

_Gerard couldn't contain his huge grin. 'This is awesome,' he thought. 'His hand is empty and he's got no chance of defending.' Gerard looked down at his hand and saw Fairy Meteor Crush and Armory Call. 'Even he does draw a monster and sets it, I'll grab Axe of Despair from my deck next turn, and along with Fairy Meteor Crush, I'll wipe out his Life Points. Sure, he's going to get Miracle Fusion next turn thanks to Gold Sarcophagus, but I've already destroyed all of his strongest fusion monsters. He's hasn't got anything that will stand up Demise when I equip Axe of Despair. This match is in the bag, Nationals here I come!' _

"_I'll set two face downs and end my turn," Gerard said as set Armory Call and Trap Jammer just to spook his opponent and as an extra precaution._

_Gerard's opponent said nothing as he drew, but the moment he saw it his face split into a huge grin. "Sorry, but I'll be walking away with that trophy today. Now, thanks to Golden Sarcophagus, Miracle Fusion returns to my hand which I'll use to summon Elemental HERO Flame Wingman." Transparent apparitions of Avian and Burstinatrix appeared before merging together into their fusion, Flame Wingman._

_Gerard scoffed at this. ' Oh please, you're that desperate. Any pro-duelist worth their salt knows that Flame Wingman is one of the weakest Elemental Hero fusions. Oh well, I guess it's better to go down fighting with a show of force instead of sitting back.' Suddenly, Gerard noticed something. 'Wait a sec, why'd he summon it in attack mode, Flame Wingman's 2100 ATK can't compete with Demise's 2400 ATK.'_

"_I'm not done," the blonde boy said. "Now I activate the field spell Skyscraper! Thanks to Skyscraper's effect, when an Elemental HERO attacks a stronger monster, it's boosts their ATK by 1000!" _

"_Oh, crap!" Gerard shouted. Flame Wingman let out a might yell as it unleashed a torrent of flames that engulfed and destroyed Demise. _

_**Gerard: 2600 - 1900**_

"_And due to Flame Wingman's effect, when he destroys an opponent's monster, you take damage equal to its ATK!" _

_Gerard could only stare on as the Elemental HERO rose high into the air and became shrouded in an aura of flames and divebombed Gerard. The black-haired boy fell to his knees, his face blank, devoid of all thought or emotion. _

_**Gerard: 1900 - 0**_

_All the sounds around Gerard were muted as he took in what had just happened. He had spent hours upon hours building a tournament-worthy deck out of a summoning mechanic that everyone treated as a joke. He had worked and dueled all the way to the regionals...only for his chance at greatness to be swiped out from under him. All because of a lucky draw. _

_It was that day that Gerard's passion for dueling went up in smoke. _

Gerard awoke with a start. He whipped his head around, not knowing where he was or how he'd got here. It took a moment before he remembered, he was on a boat heading to Academy Island along with this year's batch of new Duel Academy students. He rubbed the sleep out his eyes and got up from the chair he'd accidentally fallen asleep on.

'Fucking hell, again,' Gerard thought as he rubbed his sore neck. Even since he'd taken this job, Gerard had been having dreams of his old dueling aspirations, and it was starting to get annoying and mess with his sleep schedule. 'I thought I'd put that behind me. Can't I just move on with my life?'

"_Attention everyone,"_ a deep male voice came over the intercom. "_This is your captain speaking, we'll begin docking in a few minutes. Please gather your belongings and make sure all of your documentation is in order before we arrive at Academy Island. I'm sure you'll a wonderful time at your new home away from home." _

'Huh, guess I slept for longer than I thought,' Gerard thought. He looked out the window and had to admit Academy Island was a beautiful place. Luscious verdant forests, pristine white sand beaches, and crystal clear deep blue water, it was like a little slice of heaven. He was surprised it hadn't been turned into some kind gaudy and overpriced tourist spot.

But Gerard didn't have time to appreciate the natural beauty, he couldn't very well step onto the island still dressed in his t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. He went into the bathroom and changed into his full teaching attire, a brown coat, white dress shirt with a black tie, brown pants held up by a black belt, and brown loafers, and grabbed his suitcase.

Soon, the passengers of students and teachers began to disembark from the docked passenger ship. Gerard looked around, remembering the few instances he had been on the island for his teacher training. But now, he would be able to fully explore the island for his real job.

'I should go over my first lesson plan before eight,' Gerard thought to himself as he stepped off the ramp. 'I'll see if I can look anything weird-SWEET MAMA!'

Gerard's green eyes widened in amazement when he saw one of the security guards who were screening the passengers. The one that caught his eyes was a tall woman with warm brown skin, dark red hair tied into a ponytail, and light blue eyes with a claw-like scar over the right one. But even though she was clad head to toe in a security guard uniform, he could tell just by how her sleeves strained whenever she moved that she was ripped.

"My, my, my. So that's the kind of woman that gets your attention." Gerard quickly turned and saw Cecilia looking at him with a bemused smile.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," the black-haired man replied with, turning away with a light blush on his face. Cecilia giggled at the sight. The two soon got to the bottom of the ramp towards the amazonian woman.

"IDs, please," she said with a no-nonsense expression. They handed her their staff IDs and scanned them. She then held out a metal detector. "Arms up." Gerard did just that, using every bit of his willpower not to blush in front of her as she ran the wand over his body. "You're clean."

"Th-thanks," he said. "T-The name's G-Robert! My name's Robert Marti. And you are?"

"Theresa Geley," the auburn-haired woman said as she handed him back his ID. She then offered a friendly smile. "See you around, Robert."

"See ya," he said with a blush as he walked off to collect his suitcase from the scanners. "Better get to the first teacher's meeting." The green-eyed man took a quick glance at Theresa before grabbing his suitcase and hurrying off, hoping that she didn't catch how nervous he was.

'Cecilia's going to tease me about this for days,' he thought. 'Focus, Gerard, that's not important! You almost said your real name!' he mentally chided himself as he began to follow the path to the main Academy building, all while the students were heading to their dorms. 'You can't get distracted. Not even for a lady with a stunning smile and probably has thighs that can crush-STOP IT, BRAIN!'

_**Later…**_

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the new school year," Dr. Crowler said from the head of the circular conference table. "I know that some of you may be new here, but both Chancellor Sheppard and I still expect you to maintain the high standard of excellent teaching that Duel Academy is known for. Now, the first thing we should go over is…"

As Crowler continued to talk, Gerard started to take a look around, taking the appearance of his fellow teaching staff. He saw a few familiar faces, from the card shop owner Ms. Dorothy, the history teacher and head of the Slifer Red dorm Dr. Banner, and even the nurse/head of Obelisk Blue girl's dorm Ms. Fontaine. He also saw some new faces, including a man with skunk hair and glasses, and another man who looked like he hadn't gotten enough sleep the previous night.

"-so make sure you push the students and inspire them to be the best they can be. Especially the Slifers," Crowler finished up. "Lord knows they need it."

A few hours later, Gerard arrived at his room at the teacher's dorm. From his suitcase, he pulled out his journal. While there were some investigators who often kept their findings in digital logs, the black-haired man preferred to keep all his notes written down.

As such, he wrote an entry on each of the new faces he had seen, including adding a bit to the entrees he already had on Crowler and Cecilia.

The easy part of Gerard's infiltration into Duel Academy was over. Tomorrow, the real work of "Robert Marti" began.

_**The next day…**_

"Good morning, class!" Gerard said as he stood at the podium by the front of the classroom. And one thing Gerard mentally noted was that the class sizes and classroom layout were more akin to a college lecture hall then the typical high school-level classroom. He figured that Seto Kaiba really didn't spare any expense when constructing this school. "Welcome to Algebra 1. My name's Professor Robert Marti. You can call me Mr. Marti, Professor Marti, or even Rob if you manage to impress me. Now, let's go over so-"

Gerard stopped his introduction when he saw a Slifer Red student raise his hand. "Yes, you with the Kuriboh hair."

"Kuriboh hair?" the young man said to himself before asking his question. "Um, Prof, why do we need to learn math? Isn't this a dueling academy?"

"…what's your name, kid?"

The brown-haired kid smirked before pointing his thumb at himself. "The name's Jaden Yuki. And you're lookin' at the next-"

"Mr. Yuki, got it," Gerard said with a nonplussed expression, deflating Jaden's enthusiasm and earning some chuckles from the other students. "Well, Mr. Yuki, even though the main job of this academy is to make you kids into better duelists, we're still a high school. And you can't really get a high school diploma just by playing card games."

The rest of the class went on as one would expect, with "Robert" laying out the rules for his class and what the students could expect for the upcoming semester. And this was a speech he shared with the other class periods throughout the day.

Finally, the first day of classes ended, with the students and teachers heading back to their dorms. Gerard was one of them, browsing with his phone while walking.

'Great. More Blackwing support,' he thought as he looked up the cards for an upcoming booster pack. 'Like those feathery fuckers don't have enough cards already.'

However, Gerard wasn't paying attention as he turned a corner in the hallway, causing him to bump into someone.

"Oh, crap. Sorry about that," the black-haired man said as he saw that he had accidentally knocked over the tired-looking teacher he had seen yesterday. He was a skinny, pale-skinned man with green hair and black eyes. His outfit consisted of a black t-shirt, blue jeans, black & white sneakers, and matching dark red wristbands. If he hadn't seen him at the meeting yesterday, Gerard would've easily mistaken him for a student.

"It's no problem," the man replied as he began to pick the papers he had dropped from his folder. Gerard decided to help him, but he soon saw the contents of the papers. They seem to be focused on rumors and strange supernatural shit. But one piece that immediately caught his attention was a paper with the words 'missing students' scribbled across the top and a picture of a dilapidated dorm building stapled to it. Gerard took a quick glance and saw that the man's back was turned and quickly folded the paper and shoved it in his coat pocket.

"Again, sorry about that," Gerard said as he and the green-haired man finally finished picking up the files.

"Don't worry about it," the greenhead said before quickly running off, the folder pressed tightly against his body.

Later that night, Gerard took out the folded paper and began to study it. It was less of a document and more of a series of drawings and scribbles with a photo stapled to it. There were notes about an 'Abandoned Dorm', how it was 'officially' abandoned for being structurally unsafe due to being built on top of very soft and unstable ground and rocks. He also saw a list of names under the header of 'Missing Students'.

Atticus Rhodes, Merian Hendrickson, Dalia Michaels, and all the other students he had been hired to find.

It seemed as though Gerard had lucked into his first real lead.

The next day, Gerard was going about his day when he was suddenly pushed against the wall by the smaller, green-haired man from yesterday.

"Where is it?!" The greenhead shouted.

"What? What are you-"

"Don't play dumb with me!" He shouted.

"Hey!" The two turned and saw Theresa walking up to them. "We got a problem here?"

Gerard glanced at the green-haired man. "Nope, no problems here, ain't that right, buddy?" He flashed a grin.

"…yeah. No problem at all, pal," the shorter man replied before letting go of Gerard's coat.

Theresa narrowed her eyes. "Try to set a better example for the kids, okay?" she said as she rolled up her sleeves, revealing biceps that could crush soda cans.

"Um, right," Gerard replied, trying to hide his growing blush. He knew she was trying to intimidate them, and it appeared to be working on the shorter man, but he couldn't help it if this was how some of his favorite dreams started. Seemingly satisfied, Theresa walked away while giving them a look that said 'I'm watching you.' Once she was out of sight, Gerard felt the shorter man tapping his shoulder.

"She's right. Let's settle this with a duel," the green-haired man said. "Meet in near the docks after classes are done. If I win, you give me my paper back."

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," Gerard said. The green-haired man glared at him. "Alright, no use in denying it." The black-haired man then gave a deathly serious expression. "But if I win, you gotta let me see everything else you got in 'Mystery Files'," Gerard said.

The shorter man considered it for a moment. "Deal," he said extending his hand which Gerard took.

"By the way, what's your name?" Gerard asked.

"David Alvarez, the English professor."

"Robert Marti, the mathematics professor."

And so, the day passed until classes were over, and the two teachers arrived at the docks. Gerard arrived and saw that David was waiting, a cobalt D-Pad strapped to his left arm.

"Alright, let's do this," Gerard stated. David nodded, a look of fierce determination on his face. The black-haired teacher took his D-Pad out from his coat and onto his arm. Both teachers then both attached their deck slots (David's deck being clad in dark blue sleeves) and the monster slots folded out.

"_D-Pad, set!" _The two said before slapping on their D-Gazers.

"_D-Gazer, set!" _And instantly, the green scream of data surrounded the area around them.

_AR Vision: Link Complete._

As the decks were auto-shuffled, a large AR coin manifested between the two.

"I'll call tails," David said as the coin flipped. However, it landed on heads.

"Looks like I'm goin' first," Gerard exclaimed as the two drew their opening hands.

"_Let's Duel!"_

**Robert: 8000**

**David: 8000**

Gerard drew his first card and smirked as a plan began to formulate in his mind. "Alright. I'll start things off with the continuous spell, _Soul Absorption. _Now every time a card is banished, I gain 500 life points. Next, I activate _Gold Sarcophagus_, letting me search my deck and banish one card, then add it to my hand in two turns." The ornate sarcophagus rose from the ground and opened its lid. "I choose to banish _Necroface._" An image of the _Necroface_ card appeared above his head before being sealed within the sarcophagus and sinking beneath the earth.

**Robert: 8000 - 8500**

"When Necroface is banished, we both banish the top five cards from our deck," Gerard explained. And thanks to Soul Absorption, a green aura appeared around the black-haired teacher as his life points increased drastically.

**Robert: 8500 - 13500**

"And I think I'll end my turn there."

David just raised an eyebrow at "Robert's" opening move. 'That's weird,' David thought as he drew his card. 'Leaving yourself open on the first turn is beyond an amateur mistake. Even if he has raised his Life Points enough to tank most one-turn-kills, it's still insanely risky.' David eyed "Robert," trying to get some kind of read the math teacher, but the black-haired man had a solid poker face. 'I guess he's either stupid or cocky. Either way, I can't waste this opportunity.'

"I'll start by casting _Emergency Teleport,_" David said. "Letting me special summon a level 3 or lower Psychic-type monster from my deck as long as I banish it during my end phase. Stand up, _Krebons!"_

A strange mechanical clown in a blue & orange jester outfit danced onto the field, juggling cubes as it did so. **(LV. 2/DEF: 400) **

"Next, I summon _Caam, Serenity of Gusto." _A green-haired witch girl appeared in a whirlwind next to Krebons. **(LV. 4/ATK: 1700) **"Then I tune my Level 4 Caam with my Level 2 Krebons."

'Here we go,' Gerard thought to himself as the AR environment turned monochrome. Krebons and Caam turned into particles and then multi-layered rings that represented their levels.

"_The mystical power of the wind flows freely! The gales of the mind fly through the winds of time!" _David began.

'Oh, great. He's a chanter,' Gerard thought with a roll of his eyes as his foe continued, the rings stacking and then out stacking into a tower of six rings.

"_Converge to create a blistering calamity! I Synchro Summon Daigusto Sphreez!"_

A green light blasted from the rings and the color returned to the environment. When it faded, a new female monster with green & red hair, a royal witch-like costume and staff were standing before the English teacher. **(LV. 6/ATK: 2000)**

"When Sphreez is synchro summoned, I get to add a 'Gusto' monster from my grave to my hand," David explained as he added Caam back to his hand. "Sphreez, attack Robert directly with Psycho Windstorm!"

'God, he even has attack names,' Gerard thought, unflinching as the synchro monster unleashed a mystical blast of wind from her staff at him.

**Robert: 13500 - 11500**

"I'll set a card and end my turn," David finished up.

"I activate _Dimensional Fissure,_" Gerard said. "Now, any monster sent to the graveyard is banished instead. Your turn."

David drew and began his next turn. And now, the greenhead was starting to figure out what his opponent's strategy was. "I summon _Aleister the Invoker!"_

A studious-looking man with silver & green hair appeared on the field. His outfit was an arcane-looking cloak, a tome in one hand, and an intricate staff in the other. **(LV. 4/ATK: 1000)**

'So he's runnin' the Invoked engine,' Gerard thought as David continued his turn.

"When Aleister is normal summoned, I can add the spell _Invocation _from my deck to my hand." Just as he said, a card popped out of his deck and added it to his hand. "And I'll use it immediately, banishing the Krebons in my graveyard and Aleister on the field to fusion summon."

A phantom image of Krebons appeared next to Aleister before the two began to merge into a glowing, multi-colored vortex.

"_Student of arcane arts, invoke the power of the darkness to unleash your full power! I Fusion Summon Invoked Caliga!" _

Out of the vortex came a skull-faced demon with flaming blue hair and red claws. **(LV. 4/DEF: 1800)**

And thanks to David banishing two more cards, Gerard gained 1000 life points.

**Robert: 11500 - 12500**

"Next, I use Invocation's graveyard effect; I add a banished Aleister to my hand and shuffle Invocation back into my deck."

After doing just that, the green-haired man then ordered Sphreez to once again attack Robert with a blast of wind.

**Robert: 12500 - 10500**

"I set a card and end my turn."

Gerard drew his next card and Necroface was added to his hand. "I cast Twin Twisters," The black-haired man discarded Necroface, destroying David's set _Solemn Judgement_. And thanks to Dimensional Fissure, the doll monster was banished again-

**Robert: 10500 - 11000**

-activating it's effect once again, forcing each duelist to banish another five cards from the top of their deck.

**Robert: 11000 - 16000**

"Next, I play _Pot of Desires, _letting me draw two cards after banishing the top ten cards from my deck face-down," The mathematics professor did just that, banishing a good part of his deck to draw two cards and raising his life points by Soul Absorption yet again.

**Robert: 16000 - 21000 **

A smirk appeared on his face as he took a card from his hand. "Time to finish this! I summon _Gren Maju Da Eiza!"_

A plume of fire exploded in front of Robert as he slapped the monster card on his D-Pad. From the fire came a horned, red-skinned demon with powerful arms, green scales, and large purple leathery wings. **(LV. 3/ATK: ?)**

"And his ATK & DEF are equal to all of my banished cards x 400."

**(ATK: ? - 8400)**

"So I was right. You're using a Gren Maju beatdown deck," David said.

"You figured out, huh. Guess that's why you got these two monsters out," Gerard said, pointing towards Sphreez and Caliga. "Caliga makes it so that each of us can only attack with one monster per battle phase. And Sphreez can't be destroyed by battle, plus I take any damage from any battles involving her."

"Huh. You're pretty perceptive," David replied, genuinely impressed. "So what can you do knowing that?"

"This! I tribute Daigusto Sphreez to special summon Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju to your side of the field."

The green & red-haired sorceress vanished in a wave of water, the sea turtle kaiju emerging with a roar. **(LV. 8/ATK: 2200)**

**Robert: 21000 - 21500**

"Gren Maju, destroy Gameciel!" The red-skinned demon conjured up a ball of ethereal fire in between its palms before tossing it at the kaiju.

**David: 8000 - 1800**

"And for the finale, I activate my trap card: _D.D. Dynamite! _Which deals you 300 damage for each of your banished cards."

"Well…shit," David said with a sigh as a strange-looking amalgamation of dynamite manifested in the air in front of him before exploding in a massive flame.

**David: 1800 - 0 **

**Robert: WINNER!**

With the duel over, the Augmented Reality vanished as Gerard walked to his defeated foe.

"So, I think we had a deal," the black-haired man said. David looked at him before shrugging.

"Alright. Follow me."

Soon enough, the two teachers arrived at David's room. Aside from some posters, the major attraction in the English teacher's room was a massive conspiracy board on his wall. There were several newspaper clippings and printed web pages involving Yugi Moto, Maximilian Pegasus, Marik Ishtar, and stuff about Ancient Egypt.

"Wow," Gerard said as he approached the board to get a better look at it. "This is, uh, really…"

"Crazy, insane, stupid," David said as he pulled a lockbox with a combination lock from under his bed. "Please stop me when I've guessed the word you were going to use."

"What! No, no, no, I think it's…interesting," Gerard said in an unsteady. He was starting to think that David more dangerous and unstable than he initially thought.

David rolled his eyes as he unlocked the lockbox and pulled out… a key. David then used a key to unlock a drawer in his desk, and within the drawer was safe with digital keypad. "Look away while I put in the code," David said. Gerard complied but took note that it was a six-digit code.

David pulled out the files from yesterday and turned towards Gerard. "Can you answer one question for me?" the greenhead asked. "Why do you even want to see these?"

"I'm into local horror stories," Gerard blurted out.

"I don't buy it," David replied with a stern gaze. "Why would you go out of your way to steal a piece of paper for a local rumor to tickle your fancy? What's your real reason?"

Gerard was now facing a bit of a conundrum. On one hand, the fewer people that knew about his real reason for going to Duel Academy, the better. On the other hand, having someone possibly helping him out on this would be insanely helpful. And the undercover investigator could tell that David was a man who definitely wanted to keep things to himself.

"Alright, fine," Gerard said. "The thing is, I didn't come to Duel Academy to teach math. You know those missing kids you wrote about on the Abandoned Dorm paper?"

"Yes."

"I came here to find out what the hell happened to them. All Duel Academy told their parents was that these kids are all supposedly 'studying aboard.' None of these kids have contacted their parents since, and all of the parents' attempts to find out more about this program and their children's whereabouts have been a dead-end."

"That's the same excuse Sheppard told the teaching staff," David chimed in. "One day a bunch of kids never showed up to class and all Sheppard said was they were taking part in a 'highly exclusive and confidential study abroad program.'"

"So you buy it as much as they did," Gerard said and then sighed. "But since this school is owned and funded by Seto Goddammed Kaiba, trying to sue the school would drive them to bankruptcy. Not to mention that, from what I can gather, Kaiba is using every resource at his disposal to make sure this doesn't go public. So they pooled their money together and hired this handsome detective to go undercover, figure out what's going on, and find their kids."

"Well, if you want to uncover the truth then you're gonna need all of this," the green-haired man said as he laid his files on his desk, revealing stacks of documents about not just the missing students, but also rumors, legends, and phenomena. "Duel Academy likes to present itself as a glorified performing arts school. But based on the research I've been doing, this island is a magnet for all kinds of weird rumors. Whatever's going on, I think it has to do with these."

"Well, they say there's a kernel of truth to every rumor," Gerard said as picked up and looked over the documents. "So maybe one of them can help me find those kids."

"You mean help us." Gerard raised an eyebrow at this until David continued. "Some of those kids were my students. If something happened to them…" The green-haired man couldn't bring himself to finish that statement, the discomfort and worry clear in his eyes. "Besides, if any of these rumors are even slightly true, you're gonna need an expert on the paranormal on your side."

The black-haired detective resisted rolling his eyes at the 'paranormal' statement and simply held his hand out with a smile. "Well then, let me introduce myself for real. Gerard Reyes, private investigator."

"...it's still just David." The shorter man joked and the two shook hands.

And thus, the investigation for the missing students and the mysteries of Academy Island had truly begun.

_**To be continued…**_

**Author's Note 1: So we've gotten introduced to Duel Academy, introduced both a possible love interest for Gerard as well as his first confidant, and even see what his real deck looks like (for the time being). **

**And yes, I am using synchro monsters because some of my favorite archetypes are synchro based. But before you ask, not sure if I'm gonna include Xyz, Pendulum, or Link monsters down the line. **

**Next Time: Late Night Dueling! **

**See ya next time!**


End file.
